Scottish Newspapers, Language and Identity

The first decade since the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament has seen the emergence of a few-found national confidence. ‘Scottishness’ is clearly alive and flourishing. Straddling the pre- and post devolution years, this book focuses on the language of one of the most common and influential text types in Scotland: the national newspapers. To what extent does the use of identifiably Scottish lexical features help them to maintain their distinctive Scottish identity and appeal to their readership? Which Scottish words and phrases do the papers use and where, is it a symbolic gesture, do they all behave in the same way, and has this changed since devolution?Based on a sizeable corpus of newspaper texts, this book offers new and detailed insights into Scottish language and its usage by the Scottish press. Combining analysis of broad trends with detailed discussion of individual Scottish words and phrases, its timely publication coincides with a period when interest in things Scottish is at an all time high.